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{
    "id": 1049173,
    "url": "https://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1049173/?format=api",
    "text_counter": 193,
    "type": "speech",
    "speaker_name": "Kwanza, FORD-K",
    "speaker_title": "Hon. Ferdinand Wanyonyi",
    "speaker": {
        "id": 2065,
        "legal_name": "Ferdinard Kevin Wanyonyi",
        "slug": "ferdinard-kevin-wanyonyi"
    },
    "content": " It is because they are not serious about agriculture. That is why I am saying the Chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and Livestock, Hon. Tiren, should take the whip and get the Ministry of Agriculture working. Let us see extension services in the field. Let has have the research centres that were there in the colonial days revived. We have a lot of unemployed youths. Some of them have pursued agriculture up-to PhD level and they are unemployed. What are we doing as a country? I will repeat myself. Today Kenya import milk from Uganda. Why do we allow that to happen? We have lost our Middle East market for powdered milk. Why do we do that? It is because we do not have any support services from the Ministry of Agriculture officers. The Budget allocation to the Ministry of Agriculture is below expectations yet agriculture is the mainstay of the economy of in this country. What happened? The budgetary allocation for agriculture has been dwindling over the years and nobody cares about it. Therefore, as a House we should have resolutions to streamline some of these things that are affecting us. Hon.Tandaza is right to come up with this Bill. However, it is going to be discussed here and God knows what will happen; it will just end here. Let us be serious about the situation so that we can go to the extent of having some crops revived. For example, the crops that you and I had when we were growing up, like cassavas. You no longer hear about cassava, yet it has a lot of benefits and contribution to the economy. The same is true for to millet and sorghum. They are all gone, not forgetting sisal. This country used to export sisal. We no longer have sisal, yet it was the main foreign export earner. We used to export sisal to India. Today it is not there. Ropes are now made of plastics. You can rarely find ropes made of sisal. Hon. Temporary Deputy Speaker, this House has an obligation to ensure that the agricultural sector is revived. Once more, I thank Hon. Tandaza for coming up with this Bill. It is an eye-opener but let us do something about agriculture. The Chair of my Committee, and the former Chairman, has heard. Let us move towards reviving agriculture as a very important sector in this country. I support."
}